A leaked intelligence assessment prepared for Australia’s secret service claims that former Western special forces personnel were recruited to train Russian citizens, including active-duty servicemen, at private training centers in Bulgaria and Serbia, according to The Telegraph, which obtained a copy of the document.
The assessment was prepared for Australia’s intelligence service and is intended to be shared within the Five Eyes alliance, which also includes Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
The information was reportedly collected through interviews with two former Australian special forces officers and an active-duty reservist. They told the authors that they had been invited to work as instructors at training camps in Bulgaria and Serbia that allegedly accepted Russian clients.
One of the Bulgarian facilities named in the assessment is the Alfa-Metal training center in the village of Mezhdeni, in Gabrovo municipality. Publicly available information confirms the existence of the shooting range complex and identifies Alfa-Metal as a specialized training center. The company says the facility is located in Mezhdeni and offers specialized courses in tactical and security training.
